Paul Ryan’s Health Care Plan Part 1: Escaping ObamaCare

First in a two-part series on the path from ObamaCare to Paul Ryan’s Roadmap 2.0 plan for health care. Part 1 targets ObamaCare’s economic war and Constitutional challenge. In Part 2, we take Paul Ryan’s path from a culture of dependency to health care reform.

No federal program reveals President Obama’s plan for big government dependence and spending more than ObamaCare. While promising to reduce the numbers of “uninsured” without increasing debt, reality tells a story of staggering financial impact and unsound Constitutional basis.

In stark contrast, the release of Rep. Paul Ryan’s economic plan, “A Roadmap for America’s Future Version 2.0,” strikes at the heart of President Obama’s big government policies. Ryan’s Roadmap is a difference-maker showing that responsible spending can shrink deficits and provide greater opportunities. The contrasts cannot be greater, or the stakes higher.[1]

ObamaCare’s Staggering Economic Impact

With the American people now owing more in federal debt than they earn, the ObamaCare tab is overwhelming and punitive, even for a government-sponsored program.

* Health care costs continue to climb. In 1960, health care costs were 5.2% of GDP; in 2010 they were 17.9%.[2] By 2019, the government estimates that health care costs will reach 19.4% of GDP.[3]

* Overall spending has increased. Annual spending in the Obama years climbed more than 20% to a projected $3.6 trillion in 2012. Previously, government spending averaged 20% of GDP; it is now 24% – without considering ObamaCare.[4]

* We owe more than we produce. With debt levels greater than GDP, our country owes more than we produce each year.[5] The country is nearly $16 trillion in debt, and will jump to $20 trillion by 2015 – without considering ObamaCare.[6]

* The ObamaCare bill will come due. According to Sen. Jeff Sessions, Senate budget committee chairman, ObamaCare will result in a $17 trillion funding gap (money we do not have but are committed to spend). Estimates are based on methods used by the Medicaid and Medicare research center (they report to the White House).[7]

* The uninsured problem is not solved. It’s estimated that by 2019, approximately 23 million people will remain uninsured under ObamaCare.”[8] Workers, businesses, taxpayers, and those truly needing assistance are all at risk.

Supreme Court Takes a Hard Look at ObamaCare: Is Obamacare unconstitutional?

While Obama’s Progressive policies take a page from the 1930s New Deal and 1960s Great Society through entitlements and government influence, a sinister side has emerged. Oral arguments for overturning ObamaCare were heard in March 2012 by the Supreme Court after a majority of states (26) filed suit. The strongest Constitutional challenges came from the justices.[9]

Confronting the Constitutional question of ObamaCare’s control of the health care market and forcing individual purchase, Justice Scalia used an analogy, “Everybody has to buy food sooner or later, so you define the market as food, therefore, everybody is in the market; therefore, you can make people buy broccoli.” [10]

In sharp questioning, Scalia and the other justices dissected the ObamaCare “individual mandate” sham: If Americans are forced to buy health insurance and the government regulates the purchase of that insurance, we can be forced to buy anything. Where will it stop? [11]Obamacare is unconstitutional and is only the beginning of government mandates and regulations on citizens’ everyday lives.

The chilling effect of ObamaCare on the 26 states filing suit, was a central concern of the Constitution’s writers. Seizing independence from England in an economic war was the only course for American colonists trapped by a powerful central government, creating unfair trades to benefit the influential few at the expense of the individual. Americans endured law after law impacting their trades…until they hit a tipping point. As a result, our leaders created the Constitution with limited federal powers, states rights, and separation of duties between branches to protect us from unlimited powers of the federal government. Alexander Hamilton said, “It’s not tyranny we desire; it’s a just, limited, federal government.”[12]

With the decision to overturn ObamaCare in the hands of the Supreme Court, either ObamaCare or the Constitution as originally intended will prevail – we cannot have both. An economic war is upon the American people as Obama’s signature law requires for the first time, purchase of specific health insurance. What is next? The Paul Ryan health care plan, as a part of a larger overall roadmap to prosperity for the United States, provides some answers to the questions about the state of our financial situation and personal freedoms.

Rep. Ryan’s Roadmap to Prosperity

With economic “takeover” of the health care industry by the White House and looming financial failure as a backdrop, Rep. Ryan’s Roadmap presents a compelling case that the President’s Progressive policies have brought our country to a tipping point.

tipping point  (‘tɪpɪŋ)

— n

the crisis stage in a process, when a significant change takes place[13]

Ryan’s plan provides valuable insight into the expanding culture of dependency, proven history of failed Progressive policies, and critical solutions needed to rescue the country from fiscal crisis.

In the next article – Paul Ryan’s Health Care Plan Part 2: Path to Prosperity – we examine the Progressive’s culture of dependency and Ryan’s achievable health care plan.

A Time to Act

The House of Representatives quickly passed the Ryan Roadmap legislation in March 2012. With a Democrat majority in the Senate, that body rejected the legislation. Our goal is fiscal accountability by the President and legislature. ACEF is dedicated to mobilize Americans to action with the facts, and provide responsible policy on health care and other key areas.

Here are three actions you can take now:

* Get educated on health care dangers and solutions. Read the healthcare articles on the ACEF website.

* Read the introduction to Rep. Paul Ryan’s Roadmap.

* Ask your House Representative and Senator if they support the Ryan Roadmap plan.

With repeal of ObamaCare in our sights, we are in the fight of our lives (remembering the writers of the Constitution) to stop coming economic devastation as the result of unlimited federal government powers. The cost of Obamacare both financially and for our personal freedom is too large. Time is short, join the 2012 fight.